Lit Crit Assign

JACQUELINE A.
TOLEDANA
PCED-02-501A
ENG106 Tuesday (10:30am-1:30pm)
PAPER # 2:
THE DUST MONSTER
By Gilda Cordero-Fernando
Gilda Cordero-Fernando is a Filipino writer and publisher who was born on June 4, 1932 in Manila,
has a B. A from St. Theresa’s College- Manila, and an M. A from the Ateneo de Manila University. She
is a Phillipine culture ‘s towering figure, for the broad, impressive range of her accomplishments. She has
written and illustrated children’s books. In 1987, GCF Books, her own nationalist imprint, began
publishing a series of well-thumbed volumes on Philippine cultural history. Her stories ring in the
readers’s ears in well-tuned English and fill the mind with curious characters-people in the war sunburned
Filipinos with the American twang, queer designer in the world of high fashion, the humble folk cooped
in a bus, a Dost Monster, even the Anti-Christ.
“The Dust Monster” is a story about Reve Santos, is a bored wife who was left at home because her
husband, Sergio who was working all day in a plastic company. Reve loves to do stuffed animals,
comforters, and soft mittens. She also write poems and cleaned everything in their house. Reve has a new
peculiar friend, a dust monster who lives in a large closet located on the top of the bathroom. We can see
in the story, how Reve’s encounter with the creature will transformed her life as a housewife. It can be
assume that the story took place in the Philippines, around early 20th.. The story is in the third person
point of view, whereas the narrator has a full knowledge of all the characters and situation, this make it
very easy to pack a lot of information into one character. We can see in the story how Reve struggles to
keep her husband happy by preparing his breakfast and picking a suit that would matched to him
perfectly. Reve felt that her life was quite not blissful which is compared to an old slipper. However,
when Reve met the dust monster they start spending time together which Sergio not often did to his wife.
Fernando uses various literary devices to add color to the language. Metaphors were observable in some
parts of the story. It requires the strength like Hercules were needed to clean and bring down the furniture
from the closet, is an example of metaphors, “the snake like varicose veins of the peasant leg”, which
describes how hardworking is the washerwoman who collected the soiled clothes of the couple. There is
also an hyperbole in the statement “ cold days melted into blazing summer”, signify the shifting of the
season in the story. “Roses abloom in her cheek, described the aura of Sergio’s wife. “The roof
shimmered with an electric beat and the walls of the house were warm as toast slices”, describes the
condition of the weather. The large, dusty, and old closet symbolizes the kind of relationship that Reve
and Sergio had. Before, there was nothing special, that Reve believes that it is her job to make her
husband happy. On other hand, Sergio saw his wife as someone who will cater to his everyday needs such
as cooking his meal, cleaning the house, and preparing his stuff. As time passes, Sergio noticed that his
wife looks happier and voluptuous than before. The turning point in the story is when Sergio decided to
stay at home for summer vacation rather than going out of town. He just stays at the couch, drinking beer
and watching television. This is the time that he realized that he should make up everything, fixing things
around which made Reve happy. That’s the time where he cleaned the closet which was asked to him
many times by his wife. For three days Sergio spent his day bringing down and cleaning some furniture
form the closet. The furniture were neatly lined against the wall, in alphabetical manner, starting from the
word “armchair” to the “last plastic Zinnia”. Lastly, things turned out fine. When Reve receives her
epiphany after they clean up the old closet, go out to dinner , and she becomes happy again. She
remembered the time that the dust monster visits her.

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JACQUELINE A.

ENG106 Tuesday (10:30am-1:30pm)

THE DUST MONSTER

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